parallel lines
by shiksa goddess
Summary: "we weren't supposed to meet, either"/ in which Ally is Austin's math tutor. Realization ensues. fluff-like ficlet.


**Title: parallel lines  
>Disclaimer: Do not own.<br>Playlist/Inspiration: Mine- Taylor Swift, Over My Head(Cable Car)- The Fray, Synchronize- Alana Lee**

Ally Dawson was nothing if not a math whiz. Well, and a songwriter, but she was still a math genius.

Austin Moon, however, was anything _but_. Yet another reason he and Ally were polar opposites.

_Message from :Austin Moon_

_hey alls. i really need your help.I DON'T UNDERSTAND GRAPHS._

_Message from:Ally :)_

_Graphs? We're in tenth grade, shouldn't you be taking geometry?_

_Message from:Austin Moon_

_well, psh, i'm not learning ninth grade math because i'm in remedial math, if that's what your implying, psh. pshhhh._

_Message from: Ally:)_

_God, even over text you are a worse liar than I am._

_Message from: Austin Moon_

_plz just hellllpppppp meeeeeeeee?_

_Message from: Ally:)_

_:P I care about you way too much._

_Message from :Austin Moon_

_YAY! i wuv you!_

_Message from:Ally:)_

_Yeah,yeah, you and your sappy, incorrectly spelled love declarations annoy me. Goodnight, Austin._

_Message from:Austin Moon_

_:D goodnight, ally._

_/_

Ally takes the mathbook from her partner's hands.

"Y'know, I have school, book club, and songwriting myself, you can't expect me to help you all the time."

She skims over the math book, refamiliarizing herself with the material.

"I know Ally, I'm really sorry. You're the best math student I know, and I'm failing math, and my dad said if I got anything below a C, in any subject, I'd have to drop music until I'm eighteen. I can't give up music, Alls, I-"

"Austin, chill. I'm gonna help you. What's your newest assignment?" She asks.

"It's this. The horrifying world of line segments, lines, intersections, rays, and ooh, _parellel lines._" he remarks sarcastically.

The page looks simple, easy, and she doesn't know why Austin doesn't get it. Maybe she's biased, being a genius and all.

"Austin, what is it that you don't understand?"

She frowns at the glossy pages of the Algebra book, and so did Austin.

"I just don't understand the significance. Like, what's the difference between a ray and a set of parallel lines?"

Ally was an admittedly experienced tutor, and being so, she knew the only way to get someone to connect with the math, is to link it to a passion of theirs. She had no idea how to connect lines to music, however, and she didn't know of anything else he was interested in, though he was her best friend. He just didn't seem to have a wide variety interests.

"Austin, what's something you're interested in?"

"Music, duh...what kind of question is this, Ally?" He questions dumbfoundedly.

"No, besides music. What's something you love?"

"You." he mutters. His eyes flick from the mathbook to her, but she doesn't catch it.

"Love. Relationships. I don't know , romance. As stupid as it sounds, I know, a guy being interested in love."

Ally smiles at her friend. "No, I think it's really sweet, actually. But back to the math. Okay...rays. Rays relate to love because... okay. A ray is like true love. Everlasting love. It has a beginning point, one that is clear and distinct. But it goes on forever, no clear ending point."

Austin nods, soaking it all in. "Rays have a starting point, and never end. Rays are true love." He restates.

Ally claps her hands. "Yes! See, it's not that hard after all."

His pout comes back. "But that's just one thing! I still have line segments and parallel lines and all that crap."

Ally ponders for a moment.

"Well, line segments are like a short, stagnant relationship. They're very small, they don't go on very long, and you can see where they start, and where they end clearly. And, in most cases, they're not very significant."

They both pause for a minute, thinking back to their lives, and their past relationships, all being "line segments".

"But then again, they are significant, in a way. They help make up a line, an evergoing line that can be seen as a life."

Austin nods. "I think I'm getting it."

"Good, I knew you could. Now...intersections. Those are like...marriages that end in divorce. People, very different people, meet in the middle, have a relationship, and then it ends, and they go their separate ways. They never meet again.

_Like my parents_, she thinks, but she doesn't say it aloud.

He knows what she's thinking though, when she's biting her lip and lost in thought, a tear threatening to fall to the Formica countertop.

"You okay, Alls?"

Ally blinks hard, accidentally releasing the tear. "Yeah, I'm fine." She lies through clenched teeth.

Austin bites his lip in hesitation, wanting to do something, but he doesn't know what his boundaries are with this girl. She looks so fragile, though, and he hugs her, big, huge, bear hugs her, just to hold her together, not letting her shatter into pieces.

"I'm okay Austin, besides, we're here for you."

He feels bad, because it's true. She does a lot for him, and he doesn't return the favor as much as he should.

"Fine, let's just get on with the math, Miss Einstein." He smirks.

He playfully swats his partner's arm, and she giggles.

"Whatever. So...what's left?" She asks, looking back at the textbook.

"Parallel lines... y'know, I think _I'll_ come up with the analogy for that one."

_He looks cute when he's thinking, _she thinks, out of the blue. _What? My best friend, cute? What the hell,Brain?_

"I've got it!" Austin yells triumphantly, giving Ally that same goofy smile of achievement ,the one he wore when he was on stage and the rush of the crowd was pulsing through his ears, or when she'd walk into the room….

Whenever he was his happiest.

He really _did _like her, didn't he?

"Parallel lines are like two soulmates that never meet. They're always alongside each other, always on the same path, and they look like they should converge at some point, but they don't! They drag on, forever, until they die, never meeting their true love!"

He says it so happily, so enthusiastically, that Ally almost bursts out laughing. Instead, she puckers her lips as she tries not to laugh, the corners of her mouth turning upwards.

"That's a..._lovely_ analogy, Austin." She remarks, patting him on the arm sarcastically, beginning to walk away.

He grabs her hand. "_We're _like parallel lines, Ally. Well, we should've been. Interconnected souls that never met, polar opposites on the same path but different all the same."

She shakes her head."That doesn't even make sense, Austin. Interconnected souls? Same path?"

He beams at her like the child he truly is." Ally, don't you feel it, too? We're _meant _to be together, whether friends or lovers, but that same time, we weren't! It was this strike of fate that we met here at Sonic Boom-"

"It was you, drumming with corn dogs." Ally interjects.

"Yeah, corn dogs of fate! We weren't supposed to meet, Ally, but we were supposed be together."

Ally pulls away from Austin's grasp, bewildered at her friend's sudden preaching. "Look, Austin, they're just parallel lines. And who are you, teen Jesus?"

She tries to walk away, but he blocks her in. He steps closer, one Converse in front of the other, until she can feel his warm breath on her face. _How wonderfully intimate_, she thinks sarcastically, before her brain goes into overload panic mode. _Oh My God, what is he doing. Why is he right here, why is he in my personal bubble of airspace. What is happening. Oh My-_

"But the difference between us and parallel lines is, we met." He whispers in her ear before kissing her.

And she finds herself kissing back. She's pretty sure she should be hesitant, or dismayed, but all she is really is happy. And maybe a little confused.

"I'm sorry. I had to do that." He says bashfully, not looking sorry at all.

She wipes her lips on the back of her hand. "Whatever. Just kiss me again."

Austin smiles. Maybe he wasn't a math whiz, but he certainly was obedient.

**A/N Ew what is this. It was supposed to be poignant. And then this happened.  
>Oops.<strong>


End file.
